Slacker & Steve's Blog

Great Mate Debate: Replace the Dog?

by Slacker and Steve,posted Feb 4 2013 4:12PM

Yi! No OPP today...we have a Great Mate Debate that needs attention now!

Trish and Casey got a black lab puppy for their 7-year-old son, Connor, for Christmas. This morning, Bella (the puppy), got out of the yard and was hit by a car. Unfortunately, she didn't make it. Connor still doesn't know. Trish knows that the guy they got the puppy from still has a female from the litter and she wants Casey to go to his house when he gets off and pay whatever it takes to get the puppy. She wants to replace Bella with the new puppy and never tell Connor what happened. Casey thinks that is a horrible idea. He thinks this will be a good way to teach their young son about death. He also thinks Connor will be devastated and never trust them again if he ever finds out that they replaced his puppy.

The right thing to do is tell the kid. One of the reasons you get a dog is so that your kids can practice dealing with death before grandma dies. That being said, Mom is acting like a cornered animal with nasty comments to anyone who disagrees with her. Her irrational behavior suggests that there is a deeper issue here than the death of the family dog. Dad has to decide which is more importatnt: helping the kid deal wlith life, or keeping Mom happy. BTW As you would expect, there are websites to help deal with the loss of a pet:
www petlossdenver org pet-loss net/

02/04/2013 6:14PM

replace the dog

The right thing to do is tell the kid. One of the reasons you get a dog is so that your kids can practice dealing with death before grandma dies. That being said, Mom is acting like a cornered animal with nasty comments to anyone who disagrees with her. Her irrational behavior suggests that there is a deeper issue here than the death of the family dog. Dad has to decide which is more importatnt: helping the kid deal wlith life, or keeping Mom happy. BTW As you would expect, there are websites to help deal with the loss of a pet:
petlossdenver for one

02/04/2013 6:40PM

Great mate debate

My 9 year old son and I are listening to this. He said if it were hi,, he would like to know.

02/04/2013 7:32PM

Tell him!!

When I was 9 my cat was hit by a car and my parents lied to me about it ("cat ran away", etc)...I figured it out for myself when the animal control truck rolled up to the house. It was a horrible way to find out and I was really mad for a long time. My parents lied about things to protect me and it had the opposite effect (every time). I vowed to never do the same to my children. Death is an unfortunate fact of life. But it could also be a teaching opportunity on how to properly grieve and remember loved ones.
I think the dad is absolutely right in thinking that their son will know it's not the same dog. Get a new puppy but tell the kid the truth; with a new puppy around he'll get over it pretty quickly. My daughter is nearly 7 years old and we have a black lab puppy...if something happened to him I would never lie about it or cover it up.

02/06/2013 8:27AM

3 granddaughters

I asked my 3 granddaughters ages 15-12 all said very emotionally they would want to be told. They would want to mourn their loss. They woudl want the option of getting a new puppy - not a replacement becasue nothing can ever replace the original. I know they are older than 7 but they would still want to be told. I have to agree with a previous caller I feel Trish is feeling, which is understandable. ALthough her son is only 7 kids are very resillant. He will be fine.

02/17/2013 11:15PM

Not The Same

If you were to replace the dog The ked would find out. Let's face it no dog is the same as the others the kid needs to know. He probably wouldn't trust you any more if you replaced it.

02/17/2013 11:16PM

Not The Same

If you were to replace the dog The kid would find out. Let's face it no dog is the same as the others the kid needs to know. He probably wouldn't trust you any more if you replaced it.